Flare Prompts Evacuation

A block-long stretch of beach north of Sea Ranch Lakes was evacuated for nearly an hour Tuesday after a sunbather discovered what he thought was an explosive charge.

A cylinder about 1 1/2-foot long and one inch in diameter washed up near Ed Simmons and his son, David, 3, as they swam in the ocean behind The Native Sun motel at 1950 S. Ocean Blvd.

``It said, `Danger, do not handle` on it,`` said Jim Leljedal, spokesman for the Broward Sheriff`s Office. ``It looked like something very ominous for a while.`` But the phosphorous-filled cartridge turned out to be an expended military flare, he said.

Simmons, a vacationer from Springfield, Mo., said he had no idea what the device was, only that its label said to alert the military or police if it were recovered. Simmons told reservation clerk Joan McArdle about his find and she called the Sheriff`s Office.

``There must have been 15 vehicles here,`` McArdle recalled. ``To Mr. Simmons, it looked like an explosive. And that`s exactly what the firefighters thought it was and the bomb squad thought it was.``